100 Percent
by Write-To-You
Summary: (Set post-5x03... FIX IT!) Nia has a string of bad dreams a few days after Brainy walks out on her. But maybe those bad dreams turn out to be a good thing, after all.


**Author's Note: LKlkjelkjw Gotta love them ambiguous summaries XD It makes it sound like I literally have no idea what's going to happen in my story... I do (kinda lol) but I don't wanna spoil it :P**

**Sooooo I'm guessing that by this point you guys have heard allll about how upset I was at the end of 5x03. I've calmed down a little... Honestly, I think that I went a little crazy with my Brainia obsession at the beginning of the season. I'm hoping that the crash I got when they broke up (did they break up?) brought me down from cloud 9 a little so I can calm down about them. **

**So yeah. As I'm writing this, there's five more days until I find out what's going to happen with Brainia (if they mention it in 5x04). I'm hanging in there, and hopefully this fanfic will help you guys hang in there, too :) 3 **

_"__You told me to be myself around you," he said, slowly removing his hand from hers. She stared at him with barely restrained horror, dreading what was coming next. "My _complete_ self. But now you're saying that... you _don't_ want that."_

_His gaze was so hurt, eyes swimming, jaw tight. She opened her mouth, trying to speak, to explain, but nothing came out. Why had she been so harsh? Why had she let it get to a place where she felt like she_ needed_ to be harsh?_

_She knew why. To avoid seeing this very expression on his face... and to avoid knowing she was the cause of it._

_"__I can _only_ operate at 100 percent," Brainy went on, gaze dipping. "It is how I am programmed. Which is... entirely my problem, not yours."_

_A knife stabbed into Nia's chest at those words. And then it twisted, because Brainy was standing up and walking towards the door._

_She finally got the words out. "Brainy-!"_

_His hands clenched, but he left like he hadn't even heard her._

Nia jolted upright, like she always did after a bad dream. This one couldn't exactly be considered a nightmare... but still. It made her heart ache.

She slowly laid back down and shut her eyes. Immediately, Brainy's hurt, betrayed face came engraving itself into her cornea. Nia forced her eyes open. _Think of anything else_, she ordered herself. _Kittens, puppies, a _white martian_, I don't care just _anything_ but Brainy._

Nia tentatively closed her eyes again, and managed to keep Brainy's face out of her mind. Soon, her exhaustion and the early hour of the morning was pulling her back down into sleep.

_There was a woman in his lap. Her hair was long and immaculately curled and blond. But she didn't look like Kara, who was of course gorgeous but in a more adorkable or professional way. This woman was model gorgeous. And she had those model arms wrapped around his neck and her model legs crossed over his and her model fingers playing with the hair at his neck._

_Nia must have stopped, staring, because he looked up. Their eyes met. "Sorry," he said, though he didn't sound apologetic. He barely even sounded like _him_. "I told you, Nia. I'm not _new_ to romantic experiences." Then he looked at her pityingly. "Oh. Did you really think that you were... special?"_

_The model smirked and pushed her fingers through the length of his hair before baring down on his mouth with her perfectly plump, red lips. _

Nia opened her eyes but didn't shoot into a sitting position this time. She gritted her teeth and turned over, pulling the covers so taught around her shoulders that they dug into her bicep. _He said you were the only woman he's ever loved, _she reminded herself. _No- more than that. The only _person_ he's ever loved. Brainy would never do something like that._

Granted... Nia had told him he was doing too much. She had shut him down for simply trying to make every day perfect.

Nia squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw. She _had_ to stop thinking about Brainy.

Somehow, miraculously, Nia fell back asleep.

_He was surrounded by a ring of White Martians. She was on the outside, a kitten lying at her feet. She wasn't sure why it was there, but she didn't care, because he had a gun in his hand. It was pointing at his head._

_"__Fight!" she screamed, unable to break through the ring of Martians. "They're controlling you! Just fight it!"_

_He shook his head slowly, looking at the gun in the same way he would look at one of his computer screens: glazed, curious. "You told me that you do not want me the way I am," he said, finger sliding towards the trigger. She wasn't even sure if the was the White Martians making him move anymore. "I have nothing left to live for."_

_"__No- no _please_," she begged, trying to run forward. The kitten grabbed at her ankles, baring it's teeth._

_The gun fired._

_"__BRAINY!"_

Nia didn't even open her eyes this time. A tear slid down the bridge of her nose and into the corner of her other eye. The second one came even faster, moving smoothly in the path created by the first. Then more, until wave after wave of sobs were shaking Nia's whole body.

She didn't bother to open her eyes, to reposition herself under the covers as her nose began to run and she was forced to take shuddering breaths through her mouth instead. Her pillow grew damp.

Nia didn't know how long she lay there before she was startled by someone clearing their throat.

Nia screamed, shooting upright and backward in bed so fast that she hit her head on the backboard. She started to shake. There was a figure standing at the foot of her bed, motionless, wordless. "Who- who's there?" she asked, hands trembling so badly she wasn't sure if she'd be able to aim her dream energy even if she could muster up the concentration to get any.

The figure slowly raised its hands. Nia tried to push herself farther back, tensing in preparation for an attack, but all the figure did was clap.

Twice.

The bedside lamp turned on and a whoosh of air forced itself out of Nia's chest. "_Brainy_," she breathed, head falling back and eyes shutting.

But the relief only lasted a couple seconds. Because Brainy being in her (_their_) room, after not having replied to any of her calls or texts or emails or messages-through-friends in _three days_ was no less terrifying than an angry alien who was about to attack.

"I apologize," Brainy said. For one brief, magical moment, Nia thought that he was apologizing about the confrontation from a few days ago. Even though he had nothing to say sorry for, in reality, except for walking out before they could resolve the issue like a responsible couple. Nia supposed that even 12th level intellects were prone to some dramatics when they were hurt.

But then the moment was broken, because Brainy kept speaking. "I did not mean to startle you."

Nia was about to say "you didn't", but he had. A lot. "It's fine," she murmured instead. "What're you- why are you- I can't figure out how to word this without it coming out wrong. I'm glad that you're here."

"But why am I?" Brainy finished. "And at... 4:21 and 54 seconds in the morning? Well... I believe that that is something that _you_ will have to tell... _me_."

Nia looked at him, uncomprehending. It may have been that it was just too early for this, but she was pretty sure that Brainy wasn't making any sense.

"I see that I have... confused you." Brainy dipped his chin. "I apologize. Again."

"Stop- stop," Nia said, shaking her head. "Don't apologize. Please. If anyone should be apologizing it's- it's me."

"Is that why you are so distraught?" Brainy asked, taking a step closer to her and the bed. "This evening, I- your pain was so strong that I could... _feel _it. I believe that it stems from our time working together with our powers, but... regardless. I could not lie idly at the DEO and let you feel this- this _agony_."

Nia squeezed her eyes tight together. "You're- you're living at the DEO?" she asked faintly.

"For the time being," Brainy said calmly. "Due to... various simulations I have run, I believe that there is just above a fifty percent chance that we could work everything out. It would not follow logic to buy a new apartment so soon after leaving ours."

He was being calm and sensible. But he was also being so rigid and unemotional and... cold. Nia supposed she deserved nothing more. But it still hurt.

"That's... good," Nia replied cautiously. _It would be better if you thought we would make it because of your faith in us_, she thought. _But maybe that's too much to ask of someone who predicts _everything_, all the time._

Brainy nodded. "So please. Tell me what is troubling you so we may resolve this issue."

Nia stared at him, tears welling up in her eyes again. He wasn't here because he cared that she was unhappy. He was here because her problems were making _him_ unsettled.

She got out of bed. "I think you should go," she murmured.

Brainy blinked. "I had... not predicted that response."

"Well, good for you!" Nia snapped. "Maybe you should have!"

"You... really want me to go?"

He sounded so _hurt_ that it was hard to stay angry. "It wouldn't be the first time," Nia said, deflating. Her shoulder slumped and she sat back down, heavily, on the bed. "You've got practice after... _that_ night."

Brainy's back stiffened and Nia immediately regretted her words. How could she turn this into something that _he_ had done wrong?

"Fine," Brainy said stiffly. He turned on his heel and stepped quickly out of her (_their_) shadowy room, into the dark kitchen and even dimmer hallway. She heard the door shut and let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding even as her stomach twisted into a hundred knots.

A full twenty seconds passed before Nia realized what an _idiot_ she was being. Brainy might not have come home strictly to comfort her, but _he had come home_. That was all that mattered.

"Wait-" she cried aloud, even though Brainy was way out of hearing distance. Then she shot to her feet and all-out sprinted for the door.

Nia got lucky. She was just able to catch Brainy as he was opening the stairwell doors, about to head into the entry room and then out to the street beyond. "Wait!" she shouted again, more effectively this time. Brainy turned at the sound and his hand fell from the doorknob. Nia doubled over, panting. "Wait," she repeated, for good measure. "I was- I was _such_ an jerk and- and an idiot and so, _so_ stupid. Of course I didn't want you to leave, Brainy."

"But you said-"

"I know what I said," she interrupted, straightening and holding up her hands. "I've said- I've said a _lot_ of things over the past few days. Some of them I meant. I can't take them back because they were true. But I didn't- I didn't want you to go. Either time."

"I'm sorry," Brainy apologized for what felt like the hundredth time. He had stepped away from the door but there was still over a yard between them. Nia was on the third step and he had to look up to meet her eyes. "That night at our apartment I should not... I should not have walked out. We were working through an issue and I got defensive and- and _scared_. Because all of this.. you, us, our relationship, all of this- this _new_... it scares me, Nia Nal. It scares me more than I can even fathom. I'm not used to uncertainty and- and not having a plan, and not knowing what to do. I left because I- I needed to collect my thoughts and what you said it _hurt_."

"I know," Nia breathed. She wanted to jump the last three steps and barrel into his arms, but even in the best of times Brainy wasn't fully comfortable with her touching him. It was something they had been working through, slowly. "But we just- we needed to talk through it. There's a lot of things we need to work out, still, but that's- that's normal. And maybe we moved in together too quickly. Maybe we weren't ready for that level of commitment."

Brainy's eyebrows furrowed. "But I- but I love you," he said, frowning confusedly and taking another step towards her. Nia felt some of the knots in her stomach unclench, untied by warm fingertips that sent reassuring sparks through her blood. "If I love you... why _wouldn't _we be ready for that level of commitment? Because... you do not love me?"

Nia's mouth fell open. "You- you really think that?" she managed, the knots re-tying with extra double loops and layers. "You really think that I don't love you?"

He finally shortened the distance the rest of the way, taking the three steps towards her slowly, and then turning and sitting down. She was quick to join him, tilting her body so she could still see his face.

"You never..." Brainy's voice trailed off uncertainly. "You never said that you did."

Nia felt a surge of guilt mix in with the knots in her stomach. She was a mess. "No, but-"

"And why would you... not say it unless you didn't... mean it," Brainy continued, cutting her off. He wasn't looking her in the eyes, choosing instead to stare steadfastly at the cement floor. The stairs were cold, bleeding through Nia's thin pajama bottoms. She shivered.

"Brainy," Nia whispered, reaching forward and gently putting her hand on his knee. He blinked and looked down at the point of contact, a response that wasn't unusual but always made her heart twist. "We'd only been dating for a month. No matter how I might... feel, I was waiting it out. I've only had a few relationships in my life, but they've made me wary, and they've given me the urge to protect my heart... and myself. When you tell someone you love them... that's a big step. I felt like we were already making such big steps with dating and living together..."

Nia stopped and shook her head. "Those are all terrible excuses, I know," she whispered.

"No, no, of course they're not." It was Brainy's turn to shake his head. He put his hand firmly on top of hers, fingers gripping into skin with an almost uncomfortable amount of pressure. "Maybe I- maybe I was too hasty in telling you how I felt. I just... I cannot contain it. That is why I showered you with gifts and poetry. I am- I am feeling _so much_, and I just do not know what to do with it."

"But I thought you said you have to operate at 100 percent?" Nia said, eyebrows scrunching. "I thought that's why you were so upset? Because 100 percent was _you_, and if I couldn't accept that then I couldn't accept you. I _wasn't_ accepting you."

Brainy pulled his hand from on top of hers, the body part taken by the overpowering urge for him to steeple his fingers in front of his nose. "Nia... do you know what 'possible selves' are?" he asked her, tilting his head slightly to peer at her.

Nia felt strange with her hand on his knee now that _his_ hand was gone. She awkwardly pulled it away, clenching her fingers together in her lap. "Possible selves?" she repeated. "Like... people that you can become?"

"Indeed," Brainy agreed, absently bobbing his head a few times. "Possible selves are persons that we can become... or are afraid of becoming."

"Okay..?"

Brainy nodded again. "The fairly average human has several possible selves that they can realistically become, what with opportunities and environmental stimulus. You are an above-average earthling-"

"Aw. Thanks, Brainy."

He frowned. "I am... unsure as to why you are taking that as a compliment. I only meant that, what with your powers, your half-alien biology, and your friends in both journalistic and superheroing high places, you had more possible selves than the average human."

Nia nodded her understanding, not feeling too offended. It was pretty common that something Brainy said which she thought was a compliment turned out to actually just be him stating facts. She was pretty sure that when he called her beautiful, he was really just objectively rating her appearance... which was honestly more of a confidence boost than his opinion.

Brainy was still speaking. "But then there's me," he said with a deep sigh. "With influences from the ancestors constantly locked in my brain, and my ability to literally _rewire_ my own personality... well, my possible selves are limitless. I could be anything that anyone wants me to be." He dropped his hands from in front of his nose, clenching them into fists. "So when you- when you told me that the myself that I was wasn't _working,_ I just..."

"I never meant it like that," Nia said, cutting in before he could go on. "You misunderstood me, Brainy. Sometimes, two people in a healthy, working relationship have to adapt and bend a little. _Especially_ because we're living together. Everything is new. Neither of us have had a relationship quite like this before, and that's not just because of the superhero and techno-organic part. _Every_ relationship is different, and every relationship requires some give and take. All I wanted was to work through what we needed to; to try and figure out a way that you could not overdo it with all the of the gifts and attention, and a way that _I_ could be more receptive of it."

"What if I- what if I do not _know_ who I am?" Brainy murmured, looking down at his hands. "You wish for me to be myself around you, but... some days, I'm not even sure who that is. I don't know how to... how to _react_ to some parts of my -our- social life. I have had romantic experiences in the past but- but never a real relationship, and never like... _this_."

Nia shrugged. "I don't have a full answer for you," she admitted, reaching out again and taking one of his hands. "But Brainy... I don't think that _anyone_ knows who they are, all the time. That's part of what makes someone human. And yes-" she added quickly as he opened his mouth to contradict her. "I know you're not human and you're a 12th level intellect and you're basically the smartest person on the planet."

"Basically?" Brainy repeated, affronted.

She gave him a look and moved on. "And I _also_ know that you're not used to not knowing things, because you have that giant brain that thinks it knows everything. But you can't _learn_ relationships. All you can do is experience them, and take them as they come." She gave his hand a squeeze, leaning forward so she could see his face. "Okay? We're going to have some things to work through. But we're going to work through them _together_, because that's what couples do."

"So you still-" Brainy broke off and cleared his throat. "You still wish to have a relationship with me?"

"Of course I do," Nia breathed. "I think we just need to work together to figure out how much is too much. If you do everything, all the time, there's not going to be anything left. I want us to be able to last, Brainy. I don't want us to burn out."

Brainy nodded. "I believe that I understand," he murmured. "So, Nia Nal, if you will allow me... I would love to return to our apartment together so I-"

Nia flinched, expecting him to say something about poems or food or candles or-

"-may hold you until all of your bad dreams go away," Brainy finished softly.

Nia let out a hard breath, her lips starting to wobble with that statement. She stared at the ceiling for a second before nodding and managing a shaky, "okay."

Brainy stood up, helping her to her feet, and they walked slowly back up the stairs together. It was strange to watch Brainy slowly unbutton his black collard shirt and pull on a pajama top from one of his drawers. Strange, because Nia hadn't been sure if she would ever watch him do it again. Also strange, because he wasn't talking. There was no poetry, no professing his love to each of her body parts. It was just a peaceful, steady silence, broken only by the occasional car horn honking outside and the rustle of sheets as Brainy pulled back the covers.

Nia lay down, pulling her long hair over one shoulder. When she and Brainy usually slept together, it was at the opposite ends of the bed, usually with their backs towards each other. The only touching they did came from the accidental brushes of toes against calves.

Now, Brainy pushed himself closer, close enough that his chest was mirroring the curve of her spine. Nia shuddered a little as he reached his hand across her hip and gently rested his arm around her, fingers drawing slow circles on her skin. He moved his face forward, pressing his lips to the back of her neck.

"Your nose is cold," Nia whispered, giggling a little nervously. She covered Brainy's arm with her own, back brushing his chest as she inhaled deeply. "See... _this_ is what love is all about. The simple things."

"So this is-" Brainy broke off, but tried again. "This _is_ love?"

"Of course it is," Nia murmured, squeezing his arm. "I love you, Brainy. 100 percent and all."

**Author's Note: OMG DID YOU GUYS SEE THE PROMO PHOTOS FOR 5X04?! THEY'RE STANDING NEXT TO EACH OTHER IN TWO SHOTS AND THEN IN A THIRD NIA IS HOLDING A FLOWER. I AM SO HAPPYYYYY :D :D :D **

**Okay also: I'm thinking of having a could-be-standalone part two to this? It'll be multichap and based off of the song "Simple Things" by Christina Perri and Alexander Cardinale (which is Braina's current shipping son :)**


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